Sovereign
by Morality is a Spook
Summary: Ishtar couldn't take his life, so she took everything else. [On hold until I get my bachelors and finish my OC book] Can adopt if you want.


**Sovereign**

_**Ishtar couldn't take my immortality, so she took everything else.**_

**All the Worlds Treasures**

Air blew from his lungs as the King of Uruk resurfaced from the depths of the sea, one hand stretched out seeking to grasp the heavens, while in the other he held the plant of immortality, wrestled from the depths of the ocean that tried to drag him to its depths, but he had persevered, it wouldn't do after all of this for him to die to water of all things.

He, Gilgamesh, was the son of Lugalbanda and Rimat-Ninsun, King of Uruk, the Slayer of the Heavenly Bull and vicious Humbaba- nothing could match him.

The cold of the water didn't even register itself on his tanned skin as the ruler swam for the small island where Utnapishtim and his wife spent their days. His feet stuck with sand, the sun bearing down to him with all her heat and water clinging to him like second skin, the King had almost forgotten how wonderfully felt a challenge conquered.

Standing in the sand, with his back on the azure sea surrounding the small island, Gilgamesh allowed himself to stretch out and drink in his success of this rebellion against the gods. Enkidu would get his justice. The golden-haired man thought as he looked at the plant he held in his hand.

It was so small, half the size of lilies that graced his gardens with a stem thinner than blade of grass, unremarkable to the King's eye, however the bloom itself completely enraptured him.

It shone with golden light as it's outer petals surpassed the tumultuous blue of the sea and reminded him of the clear blue skies he had seen when he first had met his dearest friend for the first time. Innermost petals, protected by their larger brethren seemed to stretch up into the heavens, each one like the flame of a candle. In the centre lied a golden orb. This was everything he had imagined from the plant.

Utnapishtim and his wife would be rewarded handsomely, he grinned as he took another glance at the small flower, it would almost be a shame to eat it, the King thought as he sauntered over his discarded clothes laid out in front of him.

A sudden weariness took over him as looked at the strangely comfortably looking pile. He sat down in the white sand and gazed at the sun that was in its zenith.

Gilgamesh once more appraised the bloom in sunlight, again and again wondering how it was possible that he had found this precious treasure. He took in each detail, no matter how miniscule, wanting to commit it to his memory. The King held in his hands and it felt lighter than the finest silk found in the palace and far softer than the mane of a lion.

This flower belonged in his treasury, truly.

He originally had intended to cook the flower in an opulent feast in front of his subjects, but a premonition overtook the King as he wondered what would happen if the flower was lost or wilted before his eyes, the secret of immortality escaping his grasp. That moment Gilgamesh felt true uncertainty, the venom that both burned and paralysed. If he were to taste the blossom now, there was a chance that the immortality that Utnapishtim told him of would be lost, but if he hesitated then the very same chance grew and grew.

Contrary to the talk among the peasants and gods, Gilgamesh was not gifted with godly patience his mother possessed.

Without thinking the man who would become immortalized in myth bit into the blossom.

It was quite unfortunate that just after he had devoured the flower, he was struck by a black adder that had been waiting for a chance to pounce in the nearby bushel.

As the fangs pierced his neck and poured her venom inside the descendant of the gods, the King wrapped his hand around its scaly black body and hissed

"Ishtar," the venom in those crimson eyes aimed at the serpent was far more virulent than that, which now coursed in his veins.

The King squeezed and squeezed hard, cracking scales and bone, regardless the legless creature was holding on, spitefully not even attempting to save its own hide. With his other hand and a furious roar, he grabbed a nearby rock and with all of his demigod strength he smashed it against the snakes head.

Pain he felt in that moment was some of the worst he had experienced in his life, yet the snake had retreated. Gilgamesh clutched his wound and immediately a golden portal appeared behind him and a long silvery chain flew out, skewering the reptile. With a pitiful hiss it died as it had lived, slithering and preying on the unwary, but this time it's prey had won.

Son of Lugalbanda and Rimat-Ninsun attempted to laugh, but a sudden spike of pain erupted around the bite marks of the serpent and the once proud king fell down into the sand, writhing in pain as his vision darkened.

This couldn't be the end. Gilgamesh had faced far worse to be felled by a worm!

With what strength remained in his body, the king called forth a tonic from the depths of his fledging treasury. He grasped the bottle with all his might and tore open the cap without much regard from it, but as soon as the first drop of the antidote hit his tongue, the bottle turned to dust and fell in front of him.

This antidote had been brewed by him and Enkidu after felling Humbaba, brewed for three nights and days.

A drop was just enough to kill the poison, but not the pain.

As the king roared and groaned in pain, crawling in the sand, he heard a pair of feet approach, far more lighter than that of Utnapishtim or his wife, with the soft and feminine giggling it was far too clear who it was who had decided to grace him with her presence.

"**My my…**" she knelt before the suffering king and grabbed his hair with her soft hands, Gilgamesh swung his right fist in her face, but it was batted aside like nothing and his hair was yanked to for him to meet her at eye level.

Crimson red bore into crimson silted ones, ones looking with immense hatred, others with cruel amusement and lust.

"**Who is that I see crawling on the ground**" she leered as she cupped his cheek with another hand "**What was the word you used to describe other mortals? Oh, right- a mongrel**" The goddess taunted him mercilessly and smashed his face into the sand.

"**In the end you will be nothing more nothing less than the rest of them, a mongrel, a lesser, weaker, being created as a one grand joke**" She leaned in, taking delight in the seemingly crushed spirit of her former consort-to-be.

"**Too bad no one told you about it…**" she whispered in his ear and playfully yanked on one of his golden earrings with her teeth.

"**Come to me, my little monkey**" Ishtar continued whispering, her lips placing kisses along his earlobe, with the King of Uruk writhing in the sand.

"**What bigger honour can there be for a human than to spend eternity at my side? It would be so easy…**" the goddess addressed him as it was a fact "**to just surrender…**"

The goddess of Love and War let him go and mistook the silence for surrender, but as soon as she came closer to see his broken eyes, she found something else.

She found spite that transcended reality and disgust in his eyes. Before she could deliver another mocking remark she had prepared to wear him down, a loud slap echoed across the beach and Ishtar held her bruised cheek in disbelief.

"You worthless harlot. High whore of heavens" he spit on the ground with enough venom to burn to the underworld "You cried to your father to kill me when I rebuked you once, then you took the only one I could call a friend when I rebuked you twice and now you poison me and appear to offer me slavery disguised as salvation" the king slowly rose on his knees, propping himself up with his left arm, surprising them both.

"A gilded cage is still a cage. I am the King and the King I shall die. Let everyone see the true face of gods as you strike me down" he stood fully on his two feet, sun behind his head like nimbus.

"Thrice you have asked for me, thrice I shall rebuke you. No. I forevermore will rebuke you no matter the treasures you offer me, for I carry my treasures with me and they transcend eternity and anything you!" he didn't shout, he didn't mock. His words were silent and serious, something that she had never seen in him.

Ishtar narrowed her eyes and her lips set in a thin line, before growing into a smile. She came closer to him and pushed him down in the white sand.

Gilgamesh didn't bend, but the weakness now had fully set in and even despite everything he had done to hold onto the sliver of his might that remained. The goddess did not have hard time pushing him back onto the ground in kneeling position.

"**Oh, you will be surprised to see how much more I can take from you, King of Uruk, Gilgamesh. I almost wish you could be there to see how your pathetic little world crumbles.**" She held his face between her hands and even with all his remaining strength he couldn't budge them.

As Ishtar leaned in to capture his lips with her own, the ruler's eyes burned with eternal hatred. With the last bit of resistance, the king gave her his answer that she would never forget. Her tongue invaded his mouth and Gilgamesh let her have this small victory, before he bit down. When Gilgamesh bit, he bit hard. Immediately the goddess ended the kiss and pushed herself back from the almost god.

The King of Uruk offered her his last bitter smile and spit her blood out of his mouth as if it had been poison. Then he looked at her with his last baleful gaze and collapsed in the sand.

"**Oh Gilgamesh**" Ishtar shook her head with a gentle malevolent smile tugging at her lips "**You think Immortals cannot suffer because our souls and bodies are eternal…**" The goddess knelt before the godling and looked at his body now shining with golden light "**I will relish in proving you wrong…**"

Sun above them still shone as it had since the dawn of time.

**Enkidu... why am I still here? Just to suffer? Every night, I can see my kingdom and my people... even my treasures... the future I've lost... life that I've lost...it won't stop hurting. It's like they're all still there. You feel it too, don't you? I'm the one who got caught up with the gods. The beings above mortals... even us. And I was the mongrel below, challenging their power. They came after us with… Humbaba… then the Bull… Isthar...they… just kept coming. Enslaving everything in their path. Getting grander and grander... Who knows how powerful they are now? Enkidu. I'm gonna make 'em give back our future... take back everything that we've lost. And I won't rest... until we do!**

**Enuma Elish!**

**Gilgamesh-A King robbed of his legend**

_**A.N: My Gil oneshot written months ago. I recreated the King of Thot patrolling in Code Vein and since then I've had a blast. Sorry but I'll be posting a lot less as I am currently applying to BAFF internship and the paperwork will bite me in the ass. This will probably go nowhere, but I'll write another chapter to sort of tie it all together. Have a nice day, leave a comment and I'll see you some other day.**_

_**-Spook**_


End file.
